Being left-handed means running into small, everyday "that's so me" moments — things that right-handed people would probably never notice.
This illustrated series, Left-Handed Life in Japan: A Manga Series, captures those little slices of daily life in comic form. We hope you find yourself nodding along.
In Japan, the sideways-spout soup ladle is everywhere — hotel breakfast buffets, family restaurants, you name it. But as the comic shows, almost all of them are designed for right-handed users. The spout faces the wrong way for lefties, and even the hook on the pot rim is usually on the right side.
So what do left-handed people do? Most end up improvising: awkwardly pouring from the back of the ladle, switching to their right hand, or just hoping no one's watching.
That's why it's such a quiet thrill when a restaurant has an ambidextrous ladle — it's the kind of small detail that makes a left-handed person think, "This place gets it."
If you want that feeling at home, we carry both an ambidextrous ladle and a left-handed version in our shop.
Illustrated by Haru Kawase Manga artist and illustrator. Based in Japan. Debut work: "Three Mysterious Days to Get Myself Back" (2021). Also known for "Good Morning, Tail" and "Kumasaki-san" (Bungeishunju). Left-handed.
